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“James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired," President Donald Trump said of the former FBI director via social media. | Alex Brandon/AP

Comey more believable than Trump, poll finds

A greater proportion of those surveyed in a poll out Friday find former FBI Director James Comey more believable than President Donald Trump, a finding that arrives as the president openly blasted Comey as an "untruthful slime ball," seemingly in response to claims in his forthcoming memoir.

Results from The Washington Post/ABC News poll showed respondents find Comey more believable than Trump by a 3-to-2 margin, 48 percent to 32 percent. Seven percent said neither was more believable, 2 percent said both were equally believable, and 11 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.

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A plurality also registered disapproval of the president's decision to abruptly dismiss Comey last year, with 47 percent saying they disapproved and 33 percent saying they approved.

Despite pluralities finding Comey more believable and expressing unease over his firing, Comey's approval rating was nearly split among those surveyed. Thirty-two percent said they have an unfavorable view of the former FBI director, while 30 percent said they held him in favorable regard.

The results could shed light on how the public will perceive the brewing public conflict between Comey and his former boss, which ignited Friday morning as the president appeared to respond to revelations from the new book.

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"James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired," Trump tweeted Friday morning.

The missive came less than a day after outlets obtained copies of Comey's book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” leading to a string of negative headlines about the president.

The memoir depicts Trump's actions toward the federal probe into Russian election meddling as "disturbing and violating basic norms of ethical leadership" and cast the president as “untethered to truth.” In the book, Comey also pokes fun at Trump over his height, hand size and complexion.

The poll's findings also show broad support for various aspects of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and ties to Trump campaign officials, Trump's business activities and the so-called hush agreements with women alleging affairs with the president.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents support the special counsel looking into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, 64 percent approve of inquiries into the president's business ties and 58 percent registered approval of probes into the so-called hush money paid to women claiming to have had sexual encounters with Trump.

The Washington Post-ABC poll surveyed a national sample of 1,0002 adults from April 8 to 11 via cellphones and landlines. The findings have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.